Picker device for-stringed musical instruments



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C. B. KENDALL & J. P. TIRRELL. PIGKER DEVICE FOR STRINGED MUSICALINSTRUMENTS.

No. 606,220. Patented June 28,1898.

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No! 606,220. Patenjgd June 28,1898.

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CHARLES BIGELOW KENDALL AND JACOB PORTER TIRRELL, OF BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO THE AMERICAN AUTOMATIC BANJO COMPANY, OFNElV JERSEY.

PICKER DEVICE FORSTRINGED MUSICAL. E'NSTRUWEENTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 606,220, dated June 28,1898.

Application filed March 31, 1898.

T0 in whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES BIGELOW KENDALL and J ACOB PORTER TIRRELL,citi- Zens of the United States of America, and residents of Boston, inthe county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Picker Devices for Stringed MusicalInstruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improved devices forself-playing stringedmusical instruments, the objects being, first, to provide a simplifiedand improved form of cam for guiding and controlling the lateralvibrations of the reciprocating pickers of such instruments, dispensin gwith the objectionable central core or hub hitherto considered necessaryin such cams for guiding the picker in its proper path relative to itsstring, thus avoiding the former danger of catching the pin on this hubat the ends of its stroke and enabling that stroke to be shortened andtherefore quickened to a very considerable extent; second, to providemeans for lessening the sharpness of the blow of the picker-pointagainst its string; third, to resiliently support the guiding-cam, so asto cushion the picker at the ends of its stroke, thereby deadening thenoise thereof and preventing undue wear on the engaging surfaces. Thesespecific objects may be considered as auxiliary to the general object ofrendering the operation of machines of this class more rapid and certainwhile reducing to a minimum the clicking and other discordant ordistracting sounds arising from the mere mechanical engagement of theoperating parts.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a plan View, and Fig. 2 is a front view,partly in section, taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, showing that portionof the stringed musical instrument with which the devices of the presentinvention are designed to cooperate. Figs. 3, 4E, and 5 are plan views,drawn to enlarged scale, of the picker mechanism of Figs. 1 and 2,showing three different phases of the movement thereof. Figs. 6 and 7are plan views, in enlarged scale, of a modified arrangement of thepicker mechanism, showing it in two phases of its movement. Fig. 8 is aplan view, in a scale Serial N0. 675,955. (No model.)

still further enlarged from that of Figs. 3, 4, and 5, showing morefully the details of the preferred form and arrangement of ourguiding-cam. Fig. 9 is a plan view showing a modified arrangement ofbuffer for the cam of Figs. 3, at, and 5. Fig. 10 is a plan view showinga modified form of our improved flexible or resilient connection betweenthe picker and its operating-bellows. Fig. 11 is a plan view,on a scalesubstantially like that of Fig. 8, showing a cam of the ordinary form,having a central hub, and illustrating in connection therewith some ofthe objections attributable thereto and which the devices of thisinvention are intended to obviate.

This invention, although applicable to all mechanically operated pickersfor stringed musical instruments, is herein illustrated in connectionwith devices for mechanically picking strings of a banjo of ordinaryconstruction. The banjo B is supported by means of the bracket 12 andthe posts 13, extending from the base 14:. The pickers 17 are arrangedto vibrate in a horizontal plane laterally toward and from theirrespective strings, being pivotally attached to the motor devices forimparting to them a lengthwise reciprocatory motion. The motor consists,preferably, of pneumatic bellows 18, attached to the harp 15, which issecured to the rim of the banjo by means of the brackets 16.

Our improved means for guiding and controlling the lateral movements ofthe pickers during their reciprocatingmovement consist of theguiding-cam 21, employed in connection with each picker and providedwith an aperture 22, the walls of which encircle a pin or projection 23of the picker. The side walls of the aperture are located at a suitabledistance apart to allow of the desired amplitude of lateral vibration ofthe picker and are connected by inclined end walls, which serve to guidethe pin 23 of the picker at the conclusion of its stroke in eitherdirection into the plane of its return movement. The direction of thenormal travel of the picker-pin is indicated by small arrows in Figs. 4and 5. This contour of the guiding-cam is of great utility as comparedwith the usual oval con- 2 ceases tour of cams of this class(represented in Fig. 11) having a central hub, inasmuch as cams likethat ol' thelatter figure require additional means for controlling thelateral movement of the picker, in order to make it operate with areasonable degree of certainty. In the absence of such. additionalcontrolling means for the picker its cam-pin would ordinarily remain inthe positions 0 and (Z of Fig. 11 at the respective ends of its stroke,the hub 7L preventing the return movement of the motor. It mayalsohappcn as the result of leakage of the pneumatic parts, for example,that the stroke of the motor-bellows may be insufficient to carry thecam-pin far enough to enable it to be moved laterally past the ends ofthe hub 72 If uponits forward stroke the movementot' the pin should bearrested at the position a, the presence of the hub It would cause thepin to return over its forward path, thereby bringing the point of thepicker into contact with the string on the return stroke and therebynotonly prematurely damping the vibrations thereof due to the previouspick, but insuring a failure of the succeeding pick, inasmuch as thepicker rests on the wrong side of the string. Again, if the picker-pinon its return stroke, after a normal pick, be carried no farther thanthe position b it would, when drawn forward again at its next actuation,be on the wrong side of the hub 7L, thereby carrying the point of itspicker clear of the string.

In the operation of instruments of this class, particularly thoseemploying metallic strings, the force of impact of the pickers, whichare also preferably of metal, against the tightly-straincd strings isliable to produce audible clicking sounds, which, coming upon the earappreciably in advance of the musical sounds produced by the Vibrationsof the released strings, seriously detracts from the perfection of itsoperation. The remedy for this defect has hitherto been sought in thedirection of making the picker-point elastic, so as to cushion the forceof the blow, and therebylessen the sound. thereof. This, however, wasfound to be objectionable, inasmuch as the deflections of the resilientpickerpoint constantly varied the angle of its contact with the string,thereby appreciably varying the period at which it would release thestring and also varying the loudness or volume of its tone, the latterbeing dependent upon the amount of lateral movcmentimparted to thestring before releasing it.

Our improved means for modifying the force of impact of the picker-pointagainst the string consists of a resilient connection between the pickerand its motor-bellows. This connection is prc'feraljily in the form of allat spring 1!), fixed to the movable side of the bellows and pivotallyattached to the picker 17, as shown in Figs. 3 to 7, inclusive, or itmay be in the form of a coiled wire spring 19, as shown in Fig. 10. Bythis improvement we are enabled to employ a pickerlinger having a rigidor non-resilient point, thereby maintaining a uniform angle of emgagement with the string. The objections hitherto existing to the use ofsuch a resilient connection when employed with. a cam haw ing a centralhub have been based on the greater liability of the pin to catch againstthe central hub when thus connected. The vibrations of aresilientlyoperated picker, set up by the release of the stringthercfrcnn, were liable to interfere with the lateral move ment of itspin around the end of the hub. These objections are herein removed bythe omission of the obstructing central hub of the previous cams.

Inasmuch s the ends of the aperture 92 of the guiding-eam mustordinarily serve as stops for the reciprocating lllOVOlilOlll'S of thepickers an d their respective motors, it follous that the cam-pin 295 isliable to collide with the end walls of its cam-aperture with considerable force, thereby making it noisy in operation to anobjectionable extent. Such blows if imparted to a rigidlyfixed camwould. also tend to unduly wear or even to break the respective parts.To avoid these dangers and objections, we attach the guiding-cam ll. toits supporting-bracket by a resilient or yield ing connection, whichthereby operates as a buffer for absorbing the blows referred to. Ourpreferred arrangement for the cam is best shown in Fig. 8, the cam beingpivotally mounted at 29 to the bracket 27, attached to the harp 15. Thecam also engages with the bracket by means of the buffer 26 upon the pin25, the buffer being of rubber, leather, or other suitable elastic oryielding nutterial. The cam is thus enabled to yield to the impact ofthe cam-pin 23 at the ends oi its stroke, thereby serving to cushionthose blows and prevent the noise and undue wear referred to.

A modified form of buffer is shown in Fig 9, in which the cam 21.,pivotally mounted upon the pin 29, is provided with the coiled b ultcr-springs LGflwhich are sui tably adapted in tension to serve thepurpose described,

In the modified arrangement of our invention shown in Figs. 6 and 7 thecam-apertin'e 22 is located in the picker and engages with the pin 23,fixed in the side of a block 52f". This block, which corresponds inposition to the cam of the previous figures, is pivotaily mounted at 29upon the harp 15, and is pro vided with the buffers 26 which may be ofany resilient material and which serve the purpose of the buffers of theprevious figures.

It will be observed that the lateral movoments of the picker in theembodiment shownv and described herein are in al'ioriscontal. plane, theinertia of the picker or its frictional contact with the surface of thecam-platc upon which it rests, or both together, being sul'l'ecient tohold it durinthe first portion of each stroke in the plane to which itwas moved by its cam at the conclusion. of its previous stroke. if thesedevices were to be turned so that the oscillations of the picker were.in a plane in- IIO clined to the horizon, it would be necessary tobalance the oscillating picker with considerable care in order to insureits desired operation.

We claim as our invention 1. A guiding-cam for a picker having anaperture encirclingaprojection of the picker, the side Walls of whichare located at a suitable distance apart to allow of the desiredamplitude of lateral movement of the picker, the end walls beinginclined for guiding the picker at the conclusion of its stroke into thedesired plane of its return movement.

2. In a stringed musical instrument, a picker arranged to vibrate in asubstantially horizontal plane, a guiding-cam for the lateral vibrationsof the picker, having an aperture encircling a projection of the picker,the side walls of the aperture being located at a suitable distanceapart to allow of the desired amplitude of lateral vibrations, and theend Walls bein g inclined to guide the picker at the conclusion of itslongitudinal movement in each direction into the desired plane of itsreturn movement.

3. In astringedmusicalinstrument,in combination With the picker thereof,a motor,and a resilient connection between the picker and the motor.

4:. In a stringed musical instrument, a resiliently-supportedguiding-cam for thepickcr.

5. In a stringed musical instru1nent,in combination with the pickerthereof, a pivotallymounted guiding-cam for the picker, and means forresiliently opposing the oscillations of the cam, thereby cushioning thereciprocating strokes of the picker.

Signed by us,at Boston, Massachusetts, this 7 28th day of March, 1898.

CHARLES BIGELOW KENDALL. JACOB PORTER TIRRELL. Witnesses:

AMBROSE EASTMAN, Orrs, A. RoWELL.

